


A Friend in Paris

by lilaussieauthor, theauthenticme



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017) RPF
Genre: Gen, Madnessa friendship, Madnessa in Paris, Riverdale, cheryl blossom - Freeform, toni topaz - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-07 08:23:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19081204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilaussieauthor/pseuds/lilaussieauthor, https://archiveofourown.org/users/theauthenticme/pseuds/theauthenticme
Summary: A little Madnessa friendship one shot from their time in Paris.





	A Friend in Paris

**Author's Note:**

> This one shot was based on a prompt we were sent last week.
> 
> We were a little unsure about posting it and still are to be honest. Neither of us have written any Madnessa before so it was not something we are used to and was out of our oh so warm and comfortable Choni comfort zone. 
> 
> We have addressed a topic that is so common in the TV industry, especially with the role social media plays in today's society. 
> 
> The details don't all match what actually happened in real life as we started writing this before it all took place and... this is fiction 😁
> 
> Hope you enjoy this!

 

Madelaine and Vanessa were sharing a room in Paris for the duration of their work trip.

They'd taken different flights due to Madelaine's filming schedule, but were meeting up at the hotel before their press event began.

Vanessa was already unpacked and in the shower when Madelaine reached the room. She threw her stuff onto the unoccupied bed, sinking onto it and pulling her phone out, quickly lost in her own thoughts.

"Hey you" Vanessa grinned, walking out of the room in a simple white t-shirt and leggings, her hair wrapped in a towel. She sunk down on the bed next to Madelaine. "How was your flight?"

Madelaine was sat beside her in a yellow hoodie and black leggings, lost in her thoughts, head down, with her phone still glued to her hand. "Huh?" She mumbled, only noticing Vanessa's presence when she sat down beside her.

Vanessa frowned. "What's up with you? You're too quiet.." she'd always been able to tell when something was wrong with her best friend, she was normally so bouncy and full of energy.

"What? No I'm not. I'm fine. It was just a long flight."

"For someone who's such a great actress, you're actually a really bad liar Mads" Vanessa grinned, plucking the phone from the redhead's hands. "Come on... I haven't seen you in _forever_. Tell me what's been going on!"

"I am not!" She picked her phone up again, checking it a couple of times before plugging it in to charge. "There is very little going on with me as I've been so busy filming. What's new with you? How's the new house?"

Vanessa shook her head. "Subject change, much? It's great... everything's really great. But back to you. How's Travis? You don't seem to have stopped filming for weeks."

"It's been mainly the movie the past couple of weeks.." she shrugged. "I'm glad things are good with you V."

"Yeah, me too" Vanessa smiled before she let out a small huff. "You're changing it back to me again... c'mon, Mads, I know you better than almost everyone... something's up."

"Nothing is _up_..." her phone beeped and she immediately pulled it from the charger to check the message.

"Oh my god _Madelaine_ " Vanessa scoffed, pulling it away from her and setting it on the bedside table before taking Mads's hand in hers. "Mads... talk to me."

"V..give that back.." she reached for her phone again, pulling her hand free. "I _would_ talk to you if I needed to..honestly."

"Who's being honest?" Vanessa smirked. "Okay, fine, you don't have to talk to me... but at least get off that phone... let's watch something, have some fun. I haven't seen you for ages... I missed you!"

"I missed you too.." she gave her a smile, furiously tapping out a reply to something on her phone before tossing it aside. "What do you want to watch? You pick".

"Let's see what's on," Vanessa suggested. "Have you eaten?"

Madelaine shook her head. She couldn't actually remember the last time she had eaten properly. Aeroplane food was not the same. "I hear this place is meant to have great room service."

"Why don't we order in then, huh?"

"Sounds good. You pick V, anything you want is good with me...I''m just going to go freshen up.." she headed to the bathroom to shower and change.

Vanessa watched her go with a sigh. "I know you!" She called out. "I'm onto you!"

"Be onto me all you like..I'm fine.." she sighed, closing the door and freshening up after her flight.

....

When she as done, she pulled her hair over her shoulder as she headed back out into their room.

Vanessa had ordered vegan burritos and they were, according to the kind man at reception, 'on their way up, ma'am.' When Madelaine walked back out, Vanessa was laying stomach down on her bed, flicking through tv channels. "There's literally _nothing_ good on."

"That sucks" she sighed, joining Vanessa on her bed. "And I guess most of it would be in French anyway."

"Yeah... our random 'mon tresor' and 'mon amour's don't really help when it comes to... you know... actually speaking French."

"No..they really don't..." she agreed, aware she sounded a little flat and wanting to change that. "I hear you have a new tattoo?"

Vanessa grinned. "Uh huh. Wanna see?"

"Of course I do!!!"

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Changing from dead to the world straight to overly enthusiastic wasn't very subtle you know."

Madelaine shrugged, keen for the focus to not be on her. "Are you showing me this tattoo or what?"

Another eye roll. " _Fine_." She turned her head and pushed her hair back, exposing the tattoo. "You like?"

"Oo yeah! It suits you" she smiled, going to collect the food when it arrived at their door. She placed the food down on the bed, getting back into it beside her best friend.

Vanessa picked hers up, sniffing suspiciously. "It smells...wow! It actually smells good for once!"

Madelaine picked hers up, putting the TV onto the first random channel she clicked onto. She ate a little of her food but only picked at most of it, her mind elsewhere.

"Hey," Vanessa said gently, putting her burrito down and startling Madelaine out of her thoughts. "What's going on with you tonight?"

"I'm tired, that's all V. I've had a busy few weeks and a 10 hour flight where I barely slept hasn't helped. This week just feels super long.."

"Long week my ass," Vanessa said, scooting closer and pushing their burritos away. "Come here... come hug me, you know you want to." She grinned, pulling the resisting redhead into her arms and rubbing her nose annoyingly against Madelaine's shoulder. "Talk to meeee."

"V.." she mumbled quietly. "If you keep hugging me like that I..I'm gonna cry.."

Vanessa just held her tighter. "Cry then.." she whispered simply. "We both know I won't judge..."

"I'm only emotional cos I..I'm tired.." Madelaine was fighting the urge to cry with all she had. Biting her wobbling lip to try and keep herself together. She wasn't going to break. She _couldn't_. 

"I got you," the shorter girl whispered.

Madelaine leaned the side of her head against Vanessa's, relaxing into the warm arms around her tense frame.

Vanessa started to brush her fingers up and down Madelaine's arm. "Comfy?"

"Uhuh.." she sighed, her eyes closing as she relaxed.

"Good.." Vanessa soothed, raking her fingers through Madelaine's long hair. "You look exhausted... you gotta remember to look after yourself Mads..."

"I know..you're right about that..I really do.." she agreed.

"I can't be the only one telling you this.." Vanessa gave a soft laugh. "Make sure you make time for yourself."

"You'd be surprised about that one. But after this weekend is over, it should be a bit calmer for a while. Not that Travis will be there, he's in Detroit all of next week."

"That sucks. Are you all done filming your movie?"

"Yeah..We wrapped just before I got on my flight."

"Was it fun?" Vanessa was just keen to get her talking.

"The movie?" she asked quietly. "Uh..I guess. It's not the same when I'm not working with you guys though."

"Aww, you miss us, huh?" Vanessa teased. "It must be so boring without me there to entertain you."

"It honestly was. It really hasn't been anything like being in Vancouver with you and the others."

Vanessa smiled. "We'll be back in a month for season 4. What else has been happening?"

"That's about it" she shrugged. "And That's been stressful enough. Turns out I don't get on so well with all the stress."

"Oh?" Vanessa asked, though she knew almost _exactly_ how well Madelaine didn't cope. "Why?"

Madelaine shrugged."I guess it just makes my body stressed, makes me extra tired and overly emotional."

Vanessa nodded. "In what way? Are you okay?"

Madeline nodded as she closed her eyes, letting out a slow breath, almost as if she was stealing herself to say something but then changed her mind, staying silent.

"I'm okay.." she said softly. "Everything is fine" she hadn't meant to worry her friend.

"'Everything is fine' is Madelaine speak for 'I'm not okay, please send help'," Vanessa said with soft smile. "So talk to me...what's going on?"

She stayed silent, her lip wobbling.

Vanessa held her tighter. "You can talk to me... you know you can. I’m not gonna judge..."

"You never judge.." she agreed, picking up her phone quickly as it beeped,sighing at the message and quickly shoving it back into her pocket before Vanessa started asking questions.

"Who was that?" Vanessa asked softly.

"No one important.." she mumbled, shoving her phone further into her pocket as it beeped again.

"Seems important."

"It's not.." she shook her head.

"Okay," Vanessa murmured, holding her close. Something was definitely up but she trusted Madelaine would speak when she needed to.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked after a while.

"Anything," Vanessa said immediately.

"We get so much positive support from fans.." she started quietly.

"We do..." Vanessa wasn't sure where this was going. "We get a lot..."

"So much.." she agreed with a nod. "Being able to talk to them, read their coming out stories..connect with them..it means so much right?"

"The whole world," Vanessa whispered. "Yeah, of course... why are you thinking about it?"

Madelaine shrugged, the beep of her phone again making her want to turn the whole thing off.

"Put that down," Vanessa said gently. "Tell me what's going on."

"Its so stupid" she mumbled, unwelcome tears welling in her eyes. "I think I'm just tired, letting things get to me."

"That's okay... it's still gonna help to let them out," the other girl murmured. "Nothing's stupid... talk to me."

"The amount of negativity we get is usually so small, I barely even register it."

Vanessa let out a small sigh, Madelaine's attachment to her phone starting to make sense. She looked down at the phone in Mads's hand. "can I have that please?"

She held it tighter in her hand. "What? Why?"

“Please, Mads.”

Madelaine anxiously handed her phone over to her.

Vanessa took it, switching it completely off and pushing it away into the drawer next to the bed. “Please don’t look at those... what were they saying?”

"It wasn't anything important.." she closed her eyes for a second and sighed. Why did some people have to be so _mean_.

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "Madelaine... you know it comes with our job... not everyone's going to love us... but hey - so many people do... we've helped _so many_ people, Mads... think about that, okay?" She was worried the negativity was getting to her friend more than she was letting on.

"I really do need to remember that right now.." she agreed with a small nod. She hadn't realized how much it had all upset her until now.

"Look at this," Vanessa said with a soft smile, reaching around Madelaine's body to pull out her own phone and unlocking it. She tapped onto twitter, scrolling for a second before holding it up triumphantly.

On the screen was a long message, a message she gave to Madelaine to read.

Madelaine didn't even realize there were tears in her eyes until she felt then run down her cheeks. "That's so sweet."

"It's one of _many_ " Vanessa murmured, tapping on a folder in her pictures album and showing Madelaine all the screenshots of similar heartfelt messages. "We did this... you and me, we did _this_."

"That makes my heart so, _so_ happy" she smiled, scrolling through the messages. "The fact we could help anyone makes every second of this job worth it."

"Exactly" Vanessa said softly. "So we gotta focus on the people we help, right? Not the mean ones... they don't deserve our time... nor our effort. Think of all these people... focus on them."

Madelaine nodded. Vanessa was right, of course she was. "They were just so horrible V..the messages.." she whispered, turning to look at her friend.

"You think you could tell me what they were? Or show me?"

Madelaine reached for her phone from the drawer and turned it back on, unlocking it and cautiously handing it over to Vanessa.

Whoever had sent them was a nasty internet troll who had targeted Madelaine.

Vanessa took it with a sigh, her eyes scanning the rude, sexist messages. "Let me block him," she whispered. "Please Mads, you don't deserve this."

"Okay.." she nodded, leaving her phone in Vanessa hands and fighting the urge to pull it away.

Vanessa blocked him with a satisfied tap. "Bye bye, bitch"  she said. "Leave my best friend alone." She gave Madelaine a soft smile. "Were there any more?"

"A few.." she clicked on the other messages. "But I don't want Travis or anyone else to know..please promise me you won't say anything.."

"I won't," Vanessa promised. "Block them _all_ Mads. They don't deserve your time or effort. You're beautiful and amazing and you need to realise that - they shouldn't tell you any different."

"I feel stupid for letting it get to me so much. It was just..when I read what was written..it makes you doubt yourself..doubt everything..you know?"

"I know," she nodded. "It gets to you sometimes, huh? I don't think there's an actress - or actor - on this earth who hasn't felt like you do now."

"We've come to Paris to see all these wonderful fans and I just want to enjoy it you know? I like hearing their stories on how we've helped them come out or accept themselves. That means so, so much to me."

"Me too," Vanessa whispered. "The absolute world."

"Their stories are always so heart felt..and it amazes me how one hug or one photo can be so monumental. I mean..not that we're not awesome but..we're just humans like them you know?"

Vanessa nodded. "It's crazy... it's just a normal day at work for us, but for them - it can be the best day of their lives... which is why we have to make it special for them, alright?"

"We do...it may be the 100th photo for us but it's the first for them.."

"Indeed it is... every second we're with them is cherished..."

"Agreed" Madelaine nodded, wrapping Vanessa in a hug. "And I dont even have to pay for this" she chuckled.

"Imagine if we charged each other for hugs... we'd both be broke..." She held her tight.

"God yes! And I love your hugs" the redhead grinned. "They'd be worth every penny."

"And I love yours... please don't start charging me, I wouldn't be able to afford dinner."

"Never" she chuckled. "Thanks for making me feel better. You always do that V."

"I try," Vanessa grinned. "You're welcome... you can always, always talk to me okay?"

"Thank you. That means so much to me..you know I can get a little too caught up in my own head sometimes."

“I know... I know you do. Try to just focus on the good stuff, okay? Easier said than done, I know...”

"I'm gonna try harder to do that".

“Let’s try harder together, okay?”

"Agreed" she hugged Vanessa tighter. "Love you V."

“Love you too,” Vanessa said with a soft smile.

"I'm so lucky I get to call you one of my best friends. You are literally the best."

Vanessa smirked. “Says you.”

"Says me exactly" she chuckled. "We both know I'm the needy one."

A tiny giggle burst from Vanessa’s lips. “I could be needy!”

"I can't even imagine what that would look like" she grinned.

Vanessa pursed her lips, falling dramatically on top of Madelaine. “Give me looooove,” she whined with a laugh. “I need hugs...”

"Now this sort of needy I can do" she wrapped Vanessa tightly in her arms. "I've always got love for you V."

“And I for you Mads,” Vanessa smiled softly. “God, we’re goofy.”

"But we wouldn't have it any other way right?"

“Definitely not.”

"Sorry for freaking out on you."

“Don’t ever apologise for freaking out,” Vanessa said gently. “Happens to all of us... just remember not to bottle it all up. Once you've let it out, try not to concentrate on it, okay?”

"I'm working on that" she grinned. "It's a work in progress."

"Agreed," Vanessa smiled back. "And we'll continue working on it... it may not go away fully forever, but we'll get there. I know we will."

"What would I do without you? It's not easy finding people you can truly trust in our line of work."

Vanessa smiled. "Good thing we got each other then, huh?"

"Very good indeed."

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> We hope this is the kind of thing you envisaged when you sent us the prompt!
> 
> Is this the type of thing people want more of or would you prefer us stick to Choni? 
> 
> All comments and thoughts appreciated ❤️


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